Prairie Bomb! Clone

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matt81

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Looking to attempt a clone of this delicious stout. Has anyone attempted to clone Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb!? Or have any good information/hints with making this beer?

http://prairieales.com/beer/bomb/


Bomb!

Imperial Stout aged on Coffee, Cacao Nibs, Vanilla Beans, and Chili Peppers


Bomb! is an imperial stout aged on espresso beans, chocolate, vanilla beans, and ancho chile peppers. All the flavors meld to create a truly unique beer. The peppers add just the right amount of heat to compliment the intense coffee and chocolate flavors.
ABV 14%Available in 12oz Bottles and 1/6 Barrel Kegs




One big help is you may now purchase the same coffee they use in this beer:

http://prairieales.com/shop/#prettyPhoto

Looking forward to your help!

Cheers

-M
 
Im looking to brew a prarie clone too.. any luck yet? I currently have a starter going from birra dregs. I am wondering if I could pitch this? I hear they use a mix of ale yeast brett and wine yeast. Not sure what combo or order they use it. Im hoping to get a good brett character from it. Going to do a one gallon test to see wgat I get but ill let you know

Sent from a happy little tree
 
I've only had it twice, and its amazing! If I could get it without doing a trade I would totally do that
 
I'm also interested in brewing a prairie inspired beer, and would be really interested to know how they achieve the funky flavor. Brett obviously, and probably as a secondary. I think I read in another thread about bottle conditioning with two strains of Brett and a wine yeast. The obvious question is what is used for primary fermentation?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
I'm working on right now will now in 2 weeks. I think I might have wnet a little strong on the coffee. Im sitting at 13.2%
 
I'm going to be attempting to clone this on Saturday. I've got a case of Bomb! Sitting in my kitchen and I'm going to attempt to get a gravity reading off of one. I'll update you all on the results.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Degassed Bomb gravity came in at exactly 1.030

I'm still working on my recipe but will post it if it's even close to bomb. Should be brewing on Saturday, not sure how long it'll need to age on the nibs, vanilla beans, coffee, and peppers.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Base Russian imperial stout add 2lbs DME
2CUPS EXPRESSO BEANS
2.5 ANCHO CHILIES
BAG OF COCOA NIBS
3 VANILLA BEANS
 
And did you add chilies, choc, nibs during boil? Or on second fermentation?


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I didn't use any Brett in mine. It's possible they use it but I didn't detect any.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
The coffee is a bit too strong, I'd probably knock the espresso beans down to one cup. Used the same espresso bean that they use in Bomb. The vanilla is coming through very subtle and the peppers are coming through great.

Sure, I'll post my recipe when I get home.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Alright guys, here was my first attempt at a Prairie Bomb clone. It's finished aging now and I can say that this is going to be an amazing beer and very close to Prairie Bomb. I will be bottling it this week and preparing it for at least 6 months of aging before I submit it to a competition. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to provide you with what I can.


Name: Beanie Bomb!
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.56 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 6.76 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 5.00 gal


Date: 29 Jul 2014
Brewer: 5 Beanies
Equipment: 15 gal Kettle 10 gal Mash Tun


Ingredients:
1 tbsp - PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Pre-Mash)
1 campden tab (Pre-Mash)
22.1 lbs - Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)
1.25 lbs - Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM)
1.25 lbs - Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
12 oz - Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)
12 oz - Pale Chocolate (250.0 SRM)
12 oz - Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
3 oz - Horizon [10.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1 tab - Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
2 oz - Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min
2 oz - Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min
2 vial & 2 Liter starter - California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) ~456 Billion Cells


Mash Profile Total Grain Weight: 26 lbs 13.7 oz
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Tun Temperature: 100.0 F
Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Water: 30.00 qt of water at 170.0 F (75 Minute mash)
Sparge Water: 3.48 gal Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F


Est Original Gravity: 1.123
Actual Original Gravity 1.093 (Should have mashed longer or in a bigger tun, 10 gal tun didn't cut it for this batch)
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 12.5 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 9.6 %
Bitterness: 60.7 IBUs
Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 54.8 SRM

Fermented for two weeks at 68 degrees
Racked into big mouth bubbler containing the ingredients below in a cheesecloth bag (Aged for 3 weeks on ingredients)

6oz Cacao Nibs
2 Cups Espresso Beans (Actual bean used in Bomb! is what I used: Espresso Divino - http://nordaggios.com/coffee-shop/blends/espresso-divino)
3 Vanilla Beans (Cut Long ways)
3 Ancho Chili Peppers (Chopped into thirds)

Aged for three weeks and removed cheesecloth bag and ingredients, ready for bottling.

Notes:
Tasted after one week of aging and coffee was overpowering. Tasted again at three weeks, the coffee flavor had died down and the other ingredients were more pronounced, great balance with the coffee.
As it stands right now I'd say it is very close to Prairie Bomb, however bottling, carbing, and aging will change this beer I'm sure. Whatever it turns out to be it is amazing the way it is right now so I have really high hopes.

I'll keep you all in the loop.
 
I aged the beer in bulk for another month before bottling. It's been in bottles for two weeks now but still needs at least a few more months to a year to age.

When tasting the beer it smells insanely of intense coffee, I'd say too much coffee. When tasting the smooth chocolate hits first, followed by a really nice vanilla, and finishes up with a kick to the back of the throat from the peppers.

This probably isn't as close to Bomb as I would like it to be, but it's a damn fine beer and a little bit of aging could bring it closer to bomb.
 
Ebrews said:
Alright guys, here was my first attempt at a Prairie Bomb clone. It's finished aging now and I can say that this is going to be an amazing beer and very close to Prairie Bomb. I will be bottling it this week and preparing it for at least 6 months of aging before I submit it to a competition. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to provide you with what I can.


Name: Beanie Bomb!
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.56 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 6.76 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 5.00 gal


Date: 29 Jul 2014
Brewer: 5 Beanies
Equipment: 15 gal Kettle 10 gal Mash Tun


Ingredients:
1 tbsp - PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Pre-Mash)
1 campden tab (Pre-Mash)
22.1 lbs - Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)
1.25 lbs - Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM)
1.25 lbs - Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
12 oz - Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)
12 oz - Pale Chocolate (250.0 SRM)
12 oz - Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
3 oz - Horizon [10.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1 tab - Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
2 oz - Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min
2 oz - Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min
2 vial & 2 Liter starter - California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) ~456 Billion Cells


Mash Profile Total Grain Weight: 26 lbs 13.7 oz
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Tun Temperature: 100.0 F
Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Water: 30.00 qt of water at 170.0 F (75 Minute mash)
Sparge Water: 3.48 gal Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F


Est Original Gravity: 1.123
Actual Original Gravity 1.093 (Should have mashed longer or in a bigger tun, 10 gal tun didn't cut it for this batch)
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 12.5 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 9.6 %
Bitterness: 60.7 IBUs
Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 54.8 SRM

Fermented for two weeks at 68 degrees
Racked into big mouth bubbler containing the ingredients below in a cheesecloth bag (Aged for 3 weeks on ingredients)

6oz Cacao Nibs
2 Cups Espresso Beans (Actual bean used in Bomb! is what I used: Espresso Divino - http://nordaggios.com/coffee-shop/blends/espresso-divino)
3 Vanilla Beans (Cut Long ways)
3 Ancho Chili Peppers (Chopped into thirds)

Aged for three weeks and removed cheesecloth bag and ingredients, ready for bottling.

Notes:
Tasted after one week of aging and coffee was overpowering. Tasted again at three weeks, the coffee flavor had died down and the other ingredients were more pronounced, great balance with the coffee.
As it stands right now I'd say it is very close to Prairie Bomb, however bottling, carbing, and aging will change this beer I'm sure. Whatever it turns out to be it is amazing the way it is right now so I have really high hopes.

I'll keep you all in the loop.
Click to expand...

you probably couldn't have asked for a whole lot more than 1.093 out of a 10 gallon mash tun. Also as long as you are getting full conversion, mashing longer isn't going to increase your gravity.

Next time, if a larger mash tun isn't an option, you could just add a few pounds of DME, and some simple sugar. I'm willing to bet Bomb uses some (maybe a fair bit) of simple sugar.

As far as aging on the cocoa nibs, vanilla beans and chilis, three weeks is probably a bit excessive. About a week is all you really need to extract all their flavours. 3 weeks is definitely excessive for coffee beans though. I have had good results adding coarse ground coffee beans directly into the fermenter 24 hours before packaging.

And their is no real reason to need to age the beer 6-12 months. A couple months in the bottle is really all you should need.
 
J343MY said:
you probably couldn't have asked for a whole lot more than 1.093 out of a 10 gallon mash tun. Also as long as you are getting full conversion, mashing longer isn't going to increase your gravity.

Next time, if a larger mash tun isn't an option, you could just add a few pounds of DME, and some simple sugar. I'm willing to bet Bomb uses some (maybe a fair bit) of simple sugar.

As far as aging on the cocoa nibs, vanilla beans and chilis, three weeks is probably a bit excessive. About a week is all you really need to extract all their flavours. 3 weeks is definitely excessive for coffee beans though. I have had good results adding coarse ground coffee beans directly into the fermenter 24 hours before packaging.

And their is no real reason to need to age the beer 6-12 months. A couple months in the bottle is really all you should need.
Click to expand...



Have heard folk say that the chile flavor fades quickly.

If you want more gravity points from your mash, do a finer crush or better yet, do a decoction mash. I normally get approx 80% efficiency but when I did a decoction mash for a dopplebock I hit 90%, which I was not expecting.

TD
 
The chili flavor was pretty bold at first and it did fade, I like where it is currently and hope that it doesn't fade further now that it is in bottles.

Appreciate the advice on the gravity boost, I'll give one of those a shot next time.
 
Would a 12 gallon MLT be enough for a 5.5 gallon batch of this? Theoretically 1.3 qt/lb and 27 pounds of grain takes up under 11 gallons head space, but in practice I've found my 48 qt cooler to be awfully damn close to the top at that 1.3 with 21.25 pounds of grain. Must ... stir ... carefully ... ****.
 
I was able to do it with my 10 gal mash ton, but it was so close to the top that the lid couldn't fit all the way on without spilling liquid.
 
Ebrews said:
I was able to do it with my 10 gal mash ton, but it was so close to the top that the lid couldn't fit all the way on without spilling liquid.
Click to expand...

Hey as long as I've got another OKC brewer's attention, a couple of questions.

Are you aware of any groups of homebrewers around here? The only person I am at all acquainted with is Gaile at the brew shop, merely because I buy stuff there for that matter.

Does anybody around here do bulk grain buys? Paying 60 bucks a bag sucks.
 

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